The present invention is related to horological instruments, and in particular, to a world clock which displays the exact time of every location on earth simultaneously.
Clocks which are capable of displaying the time at various locations on the earth are known in the prior art. Such clocks are typically designed to allow a user to readily determine the time at various selected locations. Thus, many of these clocks are limited to displaying the time in certain prominent cities and/or selected areas of the earth which are considered to be of greater interest to likely users than other cities and/or areas not encompassed. One major drawback to clocks of this type is that they prevent a user from ascertaining the time in those cities and/or areas of the earth not encompassed by the clock.
Some prior clocks do encompass all the continents of the earth. However, such clocks invariably employ either two faces, one each for the northern and southern hemispheres, or a single face in which the northern and southern hemispheres are superimposed over one another or presented relative to one another in a projection in which large areas of the continents are grossly distorted so as to be at significant variance with the continents as they actually exist. Although such clocks allow a user to ascertain the time at any location on the earth, they can be inconvenient or difficult to use because more than one dial must be observed or because they prevent a user from readily locating a desired location to ascertain the time there due to the distortion in the continents or the confusion caused by the superposition of one set of continents over the other.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a simple yet accurate clock which allows a user to readily determine the exact time of any location on earth.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a world clock which continuously displays the exact time in every time zone on earth.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a world clock which displays the exact time in every time zone on earth by means of an accurate planisphere of the earth divided into twenty-four time zones and rotating in synchrony with the earth relative to the sun.